A Soldier's Death
by XanderLuvsAll
Summary: An impossible thing has happened and good and evil answer the call to avenge it


Just as Castiel was about to strike Crowley down, he felt an agonizing pain that he had never felt before and clutched at his Vessel's head while he tried to figure out what had just happened. It had felt like something was being ripped from him in a way nothing had ever had and Castiel had once had millions of souls ripped from his Vessel. And Castiel had been ripped apart by Raphael and Lucifer and...this was so much worse. All of the pain that Castiel had ever felt was nothing compared to what was coursing through him now and thus it took him moments to locate where the pain was coming from.

When Castiel realized what the pain was he truly wished that he hadn't for he did not want to face it. Did not want to deal with what the pain represented any more then Castiel wanted to deal with the repercussions of what it would mean. If Castiel did not face it then it would not be true. He had heard the expression burying your head in the sand and Castiel truly wished to do that but in the end knew that he could not. Not when he was needed by the one that mean more to him then anything else in existence. Castiel overpowered the spell on him and breathed one word before he took flight.

"Dean."

Then Castiel flew away form the building as fast as he could, flying for the first time since Metatron had taken his Grace and he was flying faster then he had ever flown before. Faster then even when he was in Hell, rescuing Dean for the first time. All of his will and Grace was pushed into his speed but it wasn't fast enough or good enough. Castiel stopped before the impala and just stared at the sight before him. For Dean and Sam were before him in the car that Dean loved so much and to an outsider they would appear to be just sleeping but to Castiel he knew the truth. And nothing could be able to fool him into believing something innoncet was going on as Castiel could see that both Dean and Sam's souls were gone. Obliterated. The area around the bodies and car was filled with darkness, with an evil Castiel had never felt before.

Castiel let out a scream that reverberated around the world in his true voice and in Heaven all of the angels that were left stopped as they felt their brother's grief as well as heard his scream. Castiel fell to the ground and began to do something that he had never done before and had never seen the reason for. He sobbed. Dean was dead and his soul was destroyed, making it obvious that there was nothing Castiel could do this time to bring him back. Thus Dean was truly dead, the one person that Castiel had ever loved was dead. Castiel had sacrificed everything for Dean repeatedly and now Dean was dead and Castiel did not know what to do about it. Did not know how to deal with any of it when he was all alone.

Dean had been everything to him for so long, even when Castiel had been lying to him left and right that Castiel did not know how to cope with the absence of him. Or what he was suppose to do now that once again Castiel had lost his purpose and this time had nothing to replace it with. Dean was dead and Castiel was lost. His purpose, his life, his love was dead. Castiel had loved Dean from the moment he had seen his soul in Hell and even though it had taken him years to comprehend how much that love entitled, Castiel had come to accept it. Even knowing that Dean would never look at him that way as all Dean saw was his friend, his angel and Gabriel's brother. Never lover and never love. Sam and Gabriel had meant the most to Dean and while Castiel knew that Dean had loved him it had never been as Castiel would have wish. He knew that and he accepted that.

Dean had given him all that he could and Castiel had been content with that for as long as Dean was in his life then it was all worth it. And Now...And now...

Castiel was lost to his grief and thus did not notice the arrival of Crowley, who had shaken off his shock and his mother's spell to follow where the scream had come from. It took Crowley but a moment to see Dean's body, Castiel's grief and to realize that all of it meant that Dean could not easily be brought back as otherwise the angel would be healing already. Still though, Crowley went to the drivers side, opened the door and tried to make a deal in a round about manner with himself to bring Dean back. No matter what Crowley did though did anything to change how dead Dean was. So he swiftly turned away and tried not to collapse like Castiel was, who was keening at this point and utterly useless.

"Get up, you buggering idiot. Your not helping Dean by doing that."

Instantly the air began to heat up as Castiel began to glow and his wings began to flare out. "Dean is dead, demon and I will not have you profane his name again by speaking it. You are the cause of all this, you and that wretched Mark,...You have killed him"

"I..Killed him. I was trying to save him.. First with Abaddon and Metatron, your brother, and then now by freeing him of the Mark. Even though it meant working with my wretched mother. I have done more for Dean then you ever have. "And I love him, something that Crowley would never speak out loud. Not if he wanted to maintain his position. Demons already spoke of his relationship with the hunter and Crowley knew if anyone knew the truth then they would rise against him. They had barely tolerated his being with Dean while Dean was a demon, if any had known that it had continued after Sam and Castiel managed to save Dean then they would rise up and kill Crowley. Something that Crowley didn't want but couldn't prevent. Somehow Dean had gotten in him more then the blood addiction ever had and Crowley had found himself doing things for the Winchesters that he never would have imagined ten..five years ago.

A human, a hunter had managed to make the King of Hell fall in love and Crowley knew that it should be shocking and the most impossible thing to have ever happened. But it wasn't, not when it came to this particular human. Crowley was nothing special when it came to Dean, who had managed to make an Archangel love him and face his elder brother for him, had managed to make an angel rebel and fall for him repeatedly and so much else. Dean had stopped the End of Days, he had faced off against Lucifer, Michael, Raphael, the Host of Heaven, Leviathan, all of Purgatory and Hell and,...everything else on Earth. Dean was the special one and.. He could not be dead. How could Dean be dead after everything that he had survived and what had...

"Rowena...That bitch killed him." Crowley's eyes began to glow as his fury began to consume him. His mother had killed Dean with that spell. Which obviously had not even been what she said. Crowley had been a fool to trust her and what was worse, he had brought her the very ingredients that had killed Dean.

"It was not her... She did not have the power to destroy his soul."

Crowley stumbled back, away form the truth. "His...soul... What?"

"Dean is not...just dead...His soul is gone...His and Sam's...Their both gone...Something...evil...dark...killed them and consumed their souls...They,...He is gone... Beyond my reach...Beyond my help...Nothing I do will bring him back...Nothing..."Castiel collapsed again as the realization once again consumed him, pushing away his fury.

This time Crowley left him to it as he was incapable of doing anything but stare down at him in utter shock. Dean's soul. Crowley had never heard of a soul being destroyed. Even in Hell a soul was just changed, never destroyed. What could have the power to destroy a soul. God.. Death...Who. ...What...What ever it was, Crowley would find it and destroy them. For once Crowley had something worth risking his existence for when before it was always about his survival. Vengeance. Crowley would avenge Dean or die in the attempt, he would not let whatever had killed Dean live.

"Glad you think that, kiddo." Crowley whipped around and stared at the...being that had manged to sneak up on him. Short, blondish hair, piercing golden eyes and...power. Power that Crowley had only felt a few times.

Castiel jerked up. "Gabriel."

Gabriel looked at Castiel with a tender expression. "Hey, baby bro...I...Thank you for looking after him.. For caring for him as you did."

"I didn't... I didn't look after him... he's dead... I failed...Brother, I failed.. our love... I failed...Dean is dead...You...Dean is dead."

"I know...Dean was meant to have died five years ago...With Michael...You gave him an extra five years...It was more then I was able to in the end...I died for him... but if you hadn't distracted Michael...Michael and Lucifer would have faced off and ,,...He would have died them...Father showed me...You gave him five years of life.. and I can never thank you enough for that...I will always see to your protection because of those five years that you gave my bond-mate...You were his greatest protector and I will never forget that."

"Father... Will he bring Dean back... Please ask Father."

"Castiel... Not even Father can bring him back. "Castiel nearly sunk back into his grief when Crowley let out a derisive snort.

"What is more powerful then God."

"The Darkness." Castiel recoiled away form his brother in horror and fear. Gabriel looked at him and nodded. "Yes...The Mark was a lock..It bond the Darkness in its cage much like the Seals for Lucifer...The moment the Mark was gone, the Darkness was let out and it destroyed Dean to insure the Mark could never come back again.

"Gone...I..I helped do the spell to get rid of the Mark.. I destroyed Dean."

Gabriel cupped Castiel's face. "No,kiddo. You didn't. You saved him."

"For five years... I gave him five years...but... what is five years compared to the eternity his soul would have had in Heaven."

"Everything...To Dean, life on Earth meant more then forever in Heaven...Especially after I died... You know that. Life was everything to him and you gave that to him."

"Yes, life meant everything to him and now he's dead. I for one would like to stop with this emotional bullocks and find this Darkness and make it pay for killing Dean." Crowley didn't care that Gabriel could smite him easily, all he cared about was finding the Darkness and making it pay.

Gabriel looked at the demon that Dean had begun to love and while he couldn't see what Dean had seen in Crowley, he did see that the demon had loved Dean and for that he would live. "That is why Father brought me back.. To banish the Darkness back."

"Banish.. ,...Please. I will make the Darkness scream until there is nothing left of it."

Gabriel laughed. "The Darkness existed before the universe existed. It is everything that is evil and vile in creation. It took the full forces of my father, my elder siblings and myself to lock it up the first time. Not even we could kill it... and now death is another issue we will have to fix."

"What do you mean, brother?"

"Deanno did one last impossible thing, bro...He killed Death."

Crowley let out a shocked laugh. Only Dean.

Castiel simply stared at Gabriel in shock, not understanding what he meant. "What do you mean by that, brother?"

"Death is dead."

"Death can't die anymore then Father can... Death is eternal, more than anything else. Perhaps even more so then Father... How could Death be dead?"

"I don't know how our love did it, but he did kill Death... Death was trying to get him to kill Sam but Dean killed Death instead."

"Ah. Saving Sam...Then it makes sense. Dean would do anything to protect his brother, even the impossible. The two of them did so much for each other but what Dean has done for Sam over the years...Dean is a true soldier. Of Earth and Heaven, he has defended his family and the innocent form all that would hurt them. Since the Mark was placed on Dean, all he cared about was not letting himself harm the innocent just like any good soldier would."

"Yes and now the soldiers of Heaven shall avenge the truest soldier that has ever existed. The Righteous Man, he who died defending the innocent and those who he loved."

Then Crowley bore witness to the army of Heaven descending to Earth to answer the call to vengeance for Dean Winchester,the Righteous Man, the soldier of Heaven, and the solider of Earth. They would avenge him and insure that his death would not be in vain. Once Crowley overcame the amazement of such a witness, Crowley called forth Hell's army to do the same. A great soldier had died and he would be avenged by all who had loved him, Heaven and Hell.

Only Dean Winchester could bring the forces of good and evil together. Only for him would they all come to avenge.


End file.
